US2237877A - Method and apparatus for feeding paper - Google Patents

Description

April 8, 1941.. J B U -r; 2.2371877 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDING PAPER F'iled May 5, 1939 5 Shets-Sheet l IN VENT OR.

liq/V55 Z5? FUL/f 7 42 ATTORNEYS April 8, 1941. J. B. FULK 2.237.877

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDING PAPER Filed May 5, 1939 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.7

INVENTOR. Jaw/s5 Z3 FuL/E April 8, 1941. J B, FULK 2,237,877

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDING PAPER Filed May 5, 1939 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS April 8, 1941.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDING PAPER Filed May 5, 1939 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTQR. Jams 5 7514K ATTORNEYS J. B.YFULK 2.237.877

April 8, 1941. J FULK' 2.237.877

METHOD AND mmmvrus FOR FEEDING PAPER Filed May 5. 1939 5 sheets -sh eet a fOO INVENTOR. J/IM'ES 5. F'U/Jf I Patented Apr. 8, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDING PAPER James B. Fulk, Norwalk, M0

Application May 5, 1939, Serial No. 271,984

14 Claims.

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for feeding continuous strip material into a rotary press and particularly to the method of controlling the paper during the printing operation so that the printed strips may be collated and placed in superimposed registration without variation in the length of the printed matter thereon,

In the manufacture of continuous and single set forms for both carbon interleaved and the non-carbon interleaved strip style, each strip of the finished set is printed singly on a rotary press.

press, the same length of paper should be turned out with each web, irrespective of the different weights or sizes of the paper, but it has been found that due to differences in tension and various other causes, the paper on the indiViduaI'webS may go through the press faster orslower than the peripheral speed of the printing member, with the result that the printed webs will vary in length and therefore will not register accurately when collated. The difference in length would not be objectionable for only the first forty ieet,

but the difference is cumulative and therefore increases progressively.

The rewind or rotary presses which are now in use have a clutch mechanism at the rewind end of the machine for pulling the paper from the press and rewinding it on a core or spool. The mill roll, or unprinted roll, is supported upon a spool at the ,other end of the machine and various means are employed to tension the paper as it leaves the mill roll. It is therefore apparent that the speed with which the paper' travels through the press as it is printed, is governed by the resulting tension exerted on the paper by the clutch mechanism in pulling the paper through the press and by the tensioning device adjacent the mill roll in retarding the feeding of paper into the press. To obviate the e of the paper between the printing members at a speed faster or slower than the peripheral speed of the printing elements, would necessitate a constant tension on the paper, so'as to maintain synchronism between it and the printing elements. Heretofore, this has not been possible, because the paper at the rewind end increases in size as the roll on the opposite end of the mill roll decreases, thereby effecting a change 01' tension upon the paper, as it passes through the press, A further difliculty presents itself where papers of diiferent weight and thickness are fed through the press, for the reason that a heavier sheet will feed faster than a thinner web and hence the lengths of the respective printed forms will not lie in registration. To a lesser extent the width of the web' also has a bearing upcn the speed at which the paper would ordinarily be fed through the press, because a very narrow web' would not obtain the same amount of grip on the rollers, as that of a wider web.

An object of my present invention, therefore, is to provide a method and apparatus to control the travel of the paper into the press with respect to the speed of the printing element, and

thereby to efiect accurate registration of the resulting printed forms, irrespective of the weight or size of the paper.

Referring now to the drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a rotary printing machine which embodies one form of apparatus for carrying out the method of my invention; Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a. metering drum taken along the line 2-2 in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the rewind control, taken substantially along the line 3--3.in Fig 1; Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary section of the metering drum taken substantially along the line 4-4 in Fig, 2; Fig. 5 is a developed stantlally along the line 5-5 in Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is plan view of the inside of the drum, taken suba detail sectional view of the operation of the drum taken at the position 6-6 in Fig. 4; Fig. 7 is a similar view, taken at the position 1---'! in Fig. 4; Fig.8 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a modified form of metering drum; Fig. 9 is a similar view illustrating another form of drum which may be used in connection with 'the method of my invention; Fig. 10 is a detail sectional view taken along the line lllll in Fig. 9; Fig. 11 is a preferred form of .metering drum; Fig. 12 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 12-42 in Fig. 11; Flg. 13 is a top elevation ofla section or the drum shown in Fig. 11, and Fig. 14 is asimplified showing of a collating ma chine.

Referring now to Fig. 1, I have shown the usual form of rotary press in which I designates the frame, 2 the unprinted mill roll carried on a suitable spindle 3, and 4 the printed rewind roll carried upon the spindle 5 As. the paper W leaves the mill roll it passes around the metering drum 5, the operation of which will be hereinafter described, then through perforating mechanism 1 for making transverse weakening lines, thence upwardly and around the platen 8 of the printing mechanism, thence forwardly through the punching unit 9 to perforate the marginal edge of the strip and lastly through the numbering unit It, after which the web is rewound upon the roll 3.

The rotary printing mechanism which I have illustrated comprises a platen t and one or more rotary printing rolls H and 52, which may preferably be driven by suitable gearing from the same platen. Each of the printing rolls is provided with individual inking rollers i3 and i i, if it is desired to print the forms in more than one color. The metering drum 3 for feeding the paper into the press is carried upon the spindle 55, which is journalled in the frame and is adapted to be driven by the large external gear it. A pair of idler rolls fl and it are provided near the base of the drum to guide the incoming and outgoing paper respectively, in such a manner that the paper is in contact substantially with the full circumference of the drum during one revolution thereof.

The various units of the press are preferably driven by a motor 283, through a suitable speed reduction unit 2!, after which the power is transmitted by a belt 22 to a transverse power shaft 23, journalled in the frame. A drive shaft 2% extends longitudinally of the frame, one end of which is driven from the power shaft 23 by suitable bevel gears 25. The shaft 2 5 is journalled at intervals throughout its length, at which points provision is made for suitable gearing 2@ to drive the gear Hi on the drum E5; gearing 2? for the perforating unit i; earing 28 and a power takeoff 28 for driving the platen 3 and the press mechanism and gearing 29 and a power take-off 29' for driving the nmnbering unit iii. A power take-off for the punching unit 2 is not shown, but may be connected to either of the shafts 28' or 29.

The finished printed strips are withdrawn from the press by the rewind roll 6. This may be accomplished in one of several ways, to regulate the pull on the paper, by either driving the periphery of the rewind roll with a friction clutch arrangement or by providing a slip clutch arrangement by which the speed of rotation may be decreased as the size of the roll increases. One form of clutch arrangement which I have found satisfactory for the purposes of my invention comprises a slip clutch 3!, the tension of which is manually regulated by a hand lever 32 to control the speed of the rewind roll. The lever 32 is adapted to actuate a collar 33 through a yoke 3 which is slidable axially of the shaft 23 to compress the spring 35 and thereby press the slip clutch 3i into frictional contact with a rotating plate 36, driven by the shaft. The slip clutch 3! is adapted to drive a sprocket chain 31, the other end of which is operatively connected to the spindle 5 of the rewind roll. A detachable coupler arrangement 38, may be provided on the spindle 5 for driving the roll 4, so that the latter may be removed from the press and transferred to the collator. It is apparent that by operating the hand lever, the speed of the rewind roll may be increased or decreased to maintain a continuous As heretofore described, it has been extremely difficult to control the relative tension of the paper passing through the printing press because of the relative decrease and increase in size of the mill roll and rewind rolls, respectively. I have also pointed out the difficulty which is experienced when papers of diflerent weights and sizes are run through the press. The method and apparatus of my present invention obviates the dimculties incident to the tensioning of the paper and the variations in size thereof, by accurately metering or measuring the amount of paper which may pass through the rolls of the printing press, irrespective of its tension or weight.

A preferred form of apparatus for carrying out the method of my invention is illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3, which comprises a large rotatable drum 6, to which the paper is sufliciently clamped, during substantially one revolution of the drum, to avoid any slippage between the surface of the drum and the paper. The drum is driven from the drive shaft 26, as heretofore described, through reduction gearing it and 26, in timed relationship to the speed of the printing rolls. heavier weight are fed by the drum, the effective speed of the paper is proportionately increased, for the reason that the pitch diameter of the drum has been increased by one-half of the thickness of the paper. By therefore constructing the metering drum 5 as large as possible with respect to the diameter of the printing rolls ii and l2, 9. small increase in the pitch diameter of the paper on the drum will be so slight that the resulting increase in speed will be negligible. I have found in this respect that by providing a drum which will approximately wrap 9 feet of paper thereon during one revolution, the difference in pitch diameter is so slight that the error occasioned bythe thickness of the paper will not accumulate to an objectionable degree on a 40-foot strip, which is the usual length in which the strips are subsequently collated in superimposed registration, as by the collator H39 illustrated in Fig. 14, and described in Letters Patent No. 2,209,692 to be assigned. Therefore, for practical purposes, it has been found desirable to synchronize the peripheral speed of the drum with the peripheral speed of the printing rolls in and i2, the resulting slippage on heavier weights of paper not materially affecting the character of the printing,

In one form of metering drum illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 4 to 6, the paper is clamped firmly to the drum by a series of fingers so arranged at intervals on the peripheral margin of the drum. In its normal position each finger is pulled tightly to the drum, as by a tappet arrangement comprising a slidable stem ti, a tappet head Q2 and a compression spring 33 to exert a yieldable pressure on the stem. The head of each tappet is provided with a pair of projecting lugs 4t and 35 arranged at right-angle relationship so that the stem may be rotated a quarter of a turn upon contact of a stationary member with either of the lugs. The stationary member may comprise an arcuate cam member 16, which is positioned on the frame adjacent the idler rollers i1 and I8 and is provided with an internal camming surface ll for engagement with the tappet heads 42 as they approach the idler rolls. The cam surface M is so arranged that it displaces the finger 40 sufficiently to clear the paper on the drum, as illustrated at A in Fig. 4. As the drum continues to rotate, the lug M strikes a downwardly extend- I ing flange $3 on the cam which rotates the finger tension on the strip without tearing the paper.

at a quarter of a turn to the position B, so that When papers of quent rotation of the drum releases the tappet head from the cam'surface, after which the finger grips the paper as at D for further travel with the drum. Thus, the finger is moved out of the plane of the paper during the clamping and releasing operations.

In Fig. 3 I have shown a modified form of drum I in which the fingers 40 are applied and released in a different manner. In place of the cam mechanism previously described,. each tappet head 42 engages a fiber roller 50, positioned on v the frame, thereby lifting the finger from the paper, as illustrated in broken lines at position A in Fig. 8. Upon further rotation, the lug 44 engages a stationary arm thereby rotating the finger a quarter of a turn to clear the margin of the paper, as shown at position B. The tappet lsthereafter released as at position C for travel past the idler rolls 11' and I8. when the tappet reaches the position D it is again depressed by a second fiber roller 52, atter which the lug 45 engages a second stationary arm 53, thereby rotating the finger to its original position, as at E. Thereafter the finger is released and grips the paper tightly to the drum, as at F, and continuesv a pressure thereon and maintain the roller I9 in contact with the surface of the drum. J

When the gripping arrangement, which I have previously described, reaches the proximity of the idler rolls II and 18, the follower "I5 is angularly displaced by the cam 16, thereby rotating the arm about its pivot 12, which, in turn, withdraws the roller I8 from contact with the marginal edge otthe paper W, as illustrated in broken lines in Fig. 12. Upon subsequent release of the follower 15, the spring 13 acts to return the roller I9 to its original position, to grip the incoming paper upon the drum. I have found that by slightly grooving the drum as at 8|, below the path of the travel of the roller 19, a better gripping action is obtained between the paper and the drum, and less slippage is likely to result.

On presses where the web is always of the same width, or in instances where the web to be fed v same'manner as heretofore described, with referrotation until the position A is again reached.

i In this way the finger is moved out of the plane of the paper during the clamping and operations.

The clamping and releasing of the paper may releasing also be accomplished by the form of drum shown in Figs. 9 and 10, in which the fingers comprise a series of curved plates 6 I, which are pivotally mounted tothe drum as at 62, and held in contact with the surface of the drum by the action of a spring 63. Each finger is provided with an outwardly extending arm 84, having a rotatable follower which is adapted to engage the surface lit of an arcuate cam 81, positioned on the frame adjacent the idler rolls I! and Ii. Upon reaching the rolls l1 and II the follower ii is displaced angularly by the camming surface 66, which thereby releases the finger II from the margin of the paper and throws it outwardly to clear the rolls l1 and I8. Ther the follower is released by the cam, and e finger 60 again grips the incoming paper upon further rotation of the drum.

silent in operation when the press is operating at higher speeds. This arrangement comprises a series of pivotal arms ll supported on the drum by means of brackets ll having aplvotal attachmeat 12. The pivotal connection is provided with a tension spring 13, adapted to pull the outer end of the arm into contact with the edge of the drum. The inner end of the arm is provided with an extending portion 14, having a rotatable fol-- lower 15 adapted to engage the surface of an arcuate cam It, positioned on the frame of the printing press adjacent II. The outer end of the arm is also provided with a. pivotal connection 'l 'l adapted to receive a carriage II for supporting a roller IQ, for lateral movement with respect to the surface of the drum. The pivotal connection 11 is provided with a double-acting tension spring II, the central portion of which passes over the carriage 18 to exert the idler rollers 11 and ence to the single engagement of the strip.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that I have provided a method and apparatus for automatically maintaining uniformity in the length of webs that are fed into the printing press, regardless of the thickness or width of the paper. As a result, each web may be wound upon a roll, independently, and thereafterthe webs may be superimposed on a collating machine without variation in registration.

I claim: v

1. The method of feeding a continuous strip into a rotary rewind press, comprising clamping a length of the strip to a rotatable drum in ad vance of the passage of the strip through the press, driving'the drum at the same speed as the speed of travel of the paper through the printing roll and releasing the paper for movement into the press.

2. The method of successively feeding continuous strips of different weights and sizes of paper into a rotary press where the printed strips are subsequently placed in registration, comprising clamping the successive strips around a. rotatable drum in advance of the passage thereof; through the press and driving the drum at the same peripheral speed for each successive strip.

berand means to withdraw the paper from the,

press, a rotatable drum journalled at one end of the press for driving the paper independently of the tension otherwise exerted by the press, and means for releasing the paper from the drum for travel to the printing member.

4. In an apparatus for feeding continuous strips into a rotary printing press, comprising a rotary printing member, means for supplying paper to the member and means for withdrawing the paper from the member, a rotatable drum out of contact with the printing member and adapted to advance the paper independently of the tension otherwise exerted by any of the above mentioned members, and means for drivingthe printing member, a rotatable drum, means for I clamping the paper to the drum during substantially one revolution thereof, said drum being disposed in spaced relation to the member, whereby the paper travels over substantially the entire drum before reaching the printing member, and means for releasing the paper from the drum for subsequent travel to the printing couple of the press.

6. In a rotary printing press, a rotatable printing member and a rotatable drum for advancing the paper to the printing member, a pair of idler rolls to wrap the paper to the surface of the drum, means for clamping the paper advancing upon the drum, and means for releasing the paper as the clamping means passes the idler rolls, and a printing couple arranged and adapted to act on the paper subsequent to its release by the drum.

7. In a rotary printing press, a frame and a rotatable drum mounted in advance of the press for feeding the paper to the press, a finger pivotally mounted on the drum to clamp the paper to the surface thereof, yieldable means for holding the finger to the drum and an arm for actuatin the finger, and a cam carried by the frame to engage the arm and actuate the finger to thereby release the paper from the drum, during a portion of the travel of the drum, and a printing couple adapted and arranged to engage the released paper.

8. A rotatable drum for feeding strip material into a press, said drum being mounted in advance of the press, and having a cylindrical surface for wrapping a length of the strip thereon, and adapted to be driven in synchronism to the press, to thereby meter the paper which may pass the drum.

9. In a rotary printing press, aframe and a rotatable drum for feeding the paper to the press, an arm pivotally mounted on the drum and a roller pivotally mounted at one end of the arm for clamping the paper to the'surface of the drum, yieldable means .for holding the roller in contacting engagement with the paper, and a cam carried by the frame to actuate the arm and thereby withdraw the roller from contact with the marginal edge of the paper.

10. In a rotary printing press, a frame and a rotatable drum for feeding the paper to the press, an arm pivotally mounted on the drum and a roller pivotally mounted at one end of the arm for clamping the paper to the surface of the drum, yieldable means for holding the roller in contacting engagement with the paper, and a cam carried by the frame to actuate the arm and thereby withdraw the roller from contact with the marginal edge of the paper, and a groove positioned .on the drum to receive the roller below the surface of the drum.

11. The method of making multiply printed forms, comprising guiding a continuous strip to a rotatable drum having a comparatively large gamer? diameter, clamping the strip to the periphery of the drum throughout substantially the entire circumference of the drum, driving the drum continuously at a predetermined rate of speed to meter the length of the strip, releasing the strip from the drum without interrupting the rotation of the drum, guiding the metered strip from the drum to a rotary printing couple, the rolls of which have a diameter small in comparison to the diameter of the drum, rotating the printlng couple at substantially the same peripherial speed as that of the drum, and thereafter superposing two such metered and printed strips one on the other with the printed matter thereon in registration.

12. The method of making multiply printed forms of substantially continuous strips of material at least one of such strips being of a material differing from the material of the other strips in character, comprising guiding such strips to respective drums having comparatively large diameters rotating such drums continuously and at predetermined peripherial speeds, clamping the strips about the respective drums for substantially the entirev periphery of such drums, releasing the strips without interrupting the progress of the drums, passing the released strips between the rolls of respective printing couples, the diameters of all of such printing couple rolls being small in comparison to the diameters of the respective drums, whereby the drums control the length of the strips fed to the printing couples irrespective of the feeding action of such couples, and thereafter superposing the strips one above the other with the printed matter on one strip in registration with the printed matter on the other strip.

13. In a rotary printing press, a frame and a rotatable drum for feeding the paper into the press, a finger for engaging the paper to clamp it to the surface of the drum, yieldable means for holding the finger to the drum and a tappet for actuating the finger, a rotatable disc positioned in the path of travel of the tappet to actuate the same to release the finger, and a. stationary arm positioned on the frame to engage the tappet and rotate the finger out of contact with the margin of the paper when the same is reto engage the tappet and rotate the finger out of contact with the margin of the paper, a second cam positioned on the frame to actuate the tappet in its rotated position, and a second arm positioned on the frame to engage the tappet and return the finger, to its original position of contact with the margin of the paper.

JAMES B. FULK..

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